Fort Hays State University and Cisco Networking Academy Champion Virtual Tiger Net Challenge

HAYS, KS and SAN JOSE, CA, May 18 (MARKET WIRE) --
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced the winners of the Tiger Net
Challenge, a virtual competition designed by the Cisco(R) Networking
Academy(R) and Fort Hays State University to demonstrate real-world
critical problem-solving abilities and to honor excellence among students
and Networking Academies.

The Tiger Net Challenge engaged more than 100 Networking Academy students
across eight states to compete in three events: Router Wars, Net Bowl and
Network Troubleshooting.

-- Router Wars: Students competed in real time to capture control of a
network. They had to anticipate their opponents' strategies as well as
launch malicious attacks and defend against them. This type of exercise
prepares students to defend networks against such attacks in a professional
setting.

-- Net Bowl: This real-time quiz bowl format tested general networking
knowledge. Students participated via Cisco WebEx(TM), an online
collaboration service.

-- Network Troubleshooting: In the final challenge, students raced to be
the first to restore a pre-designed network using Cisco's Packet Tracker
5.1 software.

"We are very proud to host such a prestigious networking
competition," said Mark Bannister, chair of the Department of Information
Networking and Telecommunications at Fort Hays State University. "This is
the first time this competition has been held, and it is very satisfying
that competing students were so successful. The event and training
leading up to it reinforce many of the critical skills that aspiring
networking professionals need to master for successful careers in
information technology."

"Fort Hays State is pleased to provide a leadership role as a National
Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and as a Regional
Cisco Networking Academy," said Bannister. "We are proud to reach out to
encourage high school, college, and university students to engage in a fun
but very academically challenging and highly practical competition. We
appreciate the opportunity to work with Cisco, a world-wide leader in
networking technologies, to offer an opportunity for students to test
their knowledge and skills against each other while remaining at their own
school, college or university."

The Cisco Networking Academy is a global technology education program that
provides students with networking and technical skills to prepare them for
careers in the 21st century. Committed to delivering the highest standard
of information technology education to students of all nationalities,
genders and economic brackets, the program is designed to offer students
real-world skills that will position them for employment and career
growth.

"This competition incorporated a variety of challenges that encouraged
students to develop their networking knowledge and to think critically to
solve real-life networking issues," said Rosanna Bisges, senior manager
for Cisco Networking Academy in the U.S. and Canada. "By taking full
advantage of the Networking Academy curriculum, we are preparing the next
generation of networking professionals to build, maintain and repair the
advanced networks that will drive the economy of tomorrow."

The 2009 Tiger Net Winners:

Router Wars

-- Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, Iowa

-- Kaw Area Technical School, Topeka, KS.

-- Campus High School, Haysville, KS.

Net Bowl

-- Herndon Career Center, Raytown, MO.

-- University of Wisconsin, Stout

-- Cambridge-Isanti High School, Cambridge, MN.

Network Troubleshooting

-- Herndon Career Center, Raytown, MO.

-- Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, Iowa

-- Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD.

-- University of Wisconsin, Stout

-- Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth, KS.

Kevin R. MacRitchie, vice president and CTO, Global Defense, Space and
Security, Cisco, CCIE 1079, presented a keynote speech at the event. He
said, "Collaboration is an integral component of the fabric of business
and life today. Fort Hays' unique approach to weave Web 2.0 collaborative
technologies to bring together multiple remote locations to compete and
operate as one, proving technology can be the 'invisible tool' of business
and life, was certainly one of the most valuable experiences these
students could have ever experienced."

For more information about the Cisco Networking Academy, visit
http://www.cisco.com/go/netacad.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, and Networking Academy are
registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the United States and
certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document
are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner
does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other
company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the
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Press Contacts:

Cisco
Cara Sloman
831-440-2411
csloman@Cisco.com

FHSU
Kent Steward
785-628-4208
ksteward@fhsu.com

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